PRO FOOTBALL

PRO FOOTBALL; At Camp, Davis Finds Others Are Big, Too

Published: May 6, 2001

TEMPE, Ariz., May 5—
The man nicknamed Big looked to his right and saw somebody almost as big. It was a surprising introduction to the National Football League for the rookie Leonard Davis, the Arizona Cardinals' top draft pick and the league's second pick over all.

''I've never played with anybody that tall,'' Davis, who is 6 feet 6 inches and 370 pounds, said about lining up next to the 6-8, 351-pound right tackle Anthony Clement. ''I'm used to guys 6-1 or 6-2, so it's a change.''

The selection of Davis, who played left tackle his last two years at Texas, underlined Arizona Coach Dave McGinnis's intention to develop a strong offensive line and use it to improve the team's running game.

But two players expected to provide leadership on the line were available for the first day of minicamp. Center Mike Gruttadauria, who played only eight games his first season in Arizona because of separate injuries, is still recovering from surgery to fuse vertebrae in his neck, and Pete Kendall, a free agent signed in March, stayed out to rest a surgically repaired right shoulder.

McGinnis said that was no concern at a minicamp. ''I'd just as soon they do nothing until they're ready to do everything full speed,'' he said.

Kendall, relatively small at 6-5 and 295, is projected as a starter at left guard, next to the 6-6, 360-pound left tackle L. J. Shelton. Gruttadauria is 6-3, 285, but has a Super Bowl ring -- with St. Louis in 1999 -- to back up his status as the man the others look to for leadership.

''I guess you could say we're definitely going to be a heavy line, but we want to be a great line as far as getting the job done,'' Gruttadauria said.

Clement, drafted in the second round in 1998, was thinking about the holes he and Davis could open and dreaming about the Pro Bowl. ''I've got to come out every game ready to play ball, ready to run over somebody and just prove to them that I deserve to be on it,'' he said.